Phelps is competing in his fifth Olympic games, so he knows what it takes to recover from events. After getting back to the Athlete Village, he ate—a lot. According to the Associated Press, Phelps ate a pound of spaghetti that night. That's enough for four people.

"I think I had a pound of pasta and spaghetti. And I'm not a spaghetti fan but I forced myself to eat it," he said.

Pasta is a great pre- or post-event meal. Loaded with carbohydrates, protein and healthy fats, it helps the 31-year-old recover and recharge his body for his next event. Even though he's not a fan of spaghetti, it says a lot that he would eat a pound of it to recover.

A pound of spaghetti is relatively insignificant compared to his old 12,000-calorie per day diet—in which he would eat a pound of pasta, a whole pizza and 1,000-calorie energy drinks for dinner—but it's still impressive.